Parking fees at Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals generate £4m in three years
Visitors and staff have paid more than £4 million to park at the county's main hospitals in the past three years, it has been revealed.
Parking fees at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital Telford have amounted to £4.3 million between 2013/14, and 2015/16.
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust says the money raised through parking fees is reinvested in the hospital, with £1 million enough to pay for about 30 nurses for a year.
Figures revealed in a Freedom of Information request show that in 2013/14 members of the public paid £977,567 to park at the hospitals, while staff paid £311,738.
In 2014/15 the public paid £1,057,320 and staff £427,436, with the corresponding figures for 2015/16 being £1,029,292 and £496,448.
Earlier this year the trust said its parking charges were among the lowest in the country.
It also stressed that discount parking is available for some patients, and the first 30 minutes of parking is also free.
And people receiving certain treatment or on a visit linked to a bereavement could also park free.
The number of parking tickets issued at the hospitals has risen sharply in the last year, with the figure more than doubling.
In 2013/14 there were 90 tickets issued, in 2014/15 that number fell to 70, before leaping to 198 in 2015/16.
Last year hospitals in England collected more than £120m from charging patients, staff and visitors for parking. The figure was a five per cent rise on the year before.
